Two views on independence

RUTH Marr thinks independence without a referendum has “not a snowball’s chance in Hell” (Indy without poll? Not a chance, Letters, October 2). There is a theory that Hell is in fact very cold – an icy waste where snowballs might prosper. An alternative to a referendum, if perhaps the UK Government refuses to countenance one, would be for the SNP, in consultation with possible allies, to include independence in an election manifesto for the Scottish Parliament.

If the election resulted in a pro-independence majority, it would be open to the Scottish Government to negotiate independence with the remainder of the UK or, failing that, to declare independence unilaterally. AT the Radical Independence Conference, SNP MP George Kerevan and others offered a glimpse into an independent Scotland as a socialist netherworld (Indy Scotland will need to nationalise banks, says SNP MP, News, October 2). RIC founder Cat Boyd talked of encouraging workers to “stick two fingers up” to their bosses and the British state. Patrick Harvie of the Scottish Greens predicted a second independence referendum was now “dramatically more likely”.

This is breathless stuff, and certainly has the revolutionary feel some of the attendees were no doubt looking for. If any of this makes it into a White Paper on independence, the movement could dispense with any pretence of trying to make the numbers add up.